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Sun, 15 Sep 2019 01:36:15 +000086400Manage articleshttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/previews/the-sky-hasnt-completely-fallen-in-charlotte-r1400
No matter what side of the Kemba argument you have fallen on over the past two years you are probably entering this Sunday feeling upset and extremely frustrated with the continued ineptitude shown by the Hornets front office since the team's return to Charlotte. Years of frustrating let downs after seemingly talented rosters stagnated with little success. Followed by draft picks that although never completely blow up in the franchises face were never enough to move the team out of an endless cycle of mediocrity. Through this, there has been one shining light, one pillar of hope surrounding the team and his name was Kemba Walker. The hope had always been that in Kemba Walker the Charlotte Hornets at least had one component of a winning team, they just had to find the second piece to the puzzle. Today it's very easy and well deserved to unload nearly two decades of pent up frustration at Michael Jordan, Mitch Kupchak, Rich Cho or Steve Clifford. It never had to get to this point, it shouldn't have gotten to this point and any team with a clear sense of direction would have never let it get to this point. But with anger flying in every direction at the front office, I'm here to tell you that the Charlotte Hornets are not completely lost.Flashbacks of the Bobcat's infamous seven-win season are still fresh in the minds of Hornets fans, the image of a young Bismack Biyombo air balling free throws whilst the Bobcats are down twenty-six to the Bulls in the second quarter haven't faded. This current Hornets team is nothing like that seven-win team however and Hornets fans should be optimistic about the future of this young core. We may have lost Kemba but we still have the Avengers. The most obvious is the hot start the Hornets finished the season on. After several devastating losses, the Hornet's looked to be out of the playoffs. That was when Borrego and Mitch finally pulled the plug and allowed the young players to play major minutes against predominantly playoff caliber teams. Most fans began to tune out the Hornets season and prepare for the Kemba's free agency and the draft. However something remarkable happened, the Hornets began to win. Dwayne Bacon and Miles Bridges took the two biggest leaps of the Hornets "Avengers." Dwayne jumped from a player barely averaging four a night, to thirteen points on efficient shooting numbers. Miles Bridges took a scoring leap also, however, the biggest change was in his overall game with his assists, rebounds, steals, and shooting percentage all taking significant leaps. Devante' Graham became a ten and five player even whilst playing next to an All NBA point guard in Kemba WalkerAll these pieces still remain and the chemistry shown by this trio doesn't erase without Kemba Walker. If you tune into Dwayne or Mile's Instagram you'd be hard pressed to find the duo not together. Since the season ended the two have been inseparable spending hours upon hours in the gym together. These two believe in each other and Hornet's fans should too. The wild card in all of this is Malik Monk, when the Hornets drafted Monk with the eleventh pick two years ago many expected Malik Monk to be the savior of this franchise. Radio stations, blogs, and Hornet's fans had proclaimed him as the second fiddle to Kemba we had always been waiting for before he had even taken a step on the court for the Hornets. A foot injury would cause Malik Monk to lose his first offseason and since then Monk has shown flashes of greatness, inconsistency and been prone to making costly mistakes. Much of the Hornet's fanbase has given up on Monk who just turned twenty-one. However, players with Monk's skill set and play style, in particular, have often been tough to judge and it's hard to tell if you have Nick Young or the next Lou Williams and giving up on Monk too early could lead to him popping elsewhere. Now with Kemba and Jeremy gone, the Hornets will have the time and room to work with a player like Monk. Although it's easy to write Malik off from the outside, anyone who has seen Monk at his best would be foolish to be ready to move on. His per thirty-six-minute stats are very enchanting the basketball eye and his numbers jumped up across the board from last season. With an investment into allowing Malik to work through his mistakes the Hornets still may be able to key into the talent that still oozes out of Monk. The Hornets also have the perfect head coach in James Borrego, Borrego was able to get the Hornets to a slightly improved record last season with a roster largely constructed of players he didn't choose. The majority of the roster saw somewhat of a leap in production and Borrego was able to keep the team from having locker room turmoil. However, with the upcoming season, James Borrego is in his element. Borrego has been praised around the league for his ability to develop players and has himself been involved in the development of many star players over the past decade. The Hornet's fans can expect to be in safe hands when it comes to the development of players under Borrego. With the additions of P.J Washington and Cody Martin the Hornets will be adding two unknowns to the pool of young talent already sitting in Charlotte. Washington, in particular, will fit seamlessly next to Miles Bridges as the wings of the future. Although many have compared their similar body frames and tweener status, the facts are that the two have completely different games that will compliment each other. With major contracts in Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams, Nic Batum, Bismack Biyombo and Michael Kidd Gilchrist all coming off the books in the next two years the Hornets will be able to hit the complete reset button on something that has not been able to work outside of Kemba. There isn't a better time for the Hornets to do this, next years draft is incredibly deep and full of point guard talent to fill the gigantic hole left by Kemba Walker's departure. On a team that is already one of the youngest in the NBA and will at that time be one of the cheapest. In addition, the upcoming 2022 draft is already being called one of the greatest draft classes of all time, as two classes will converge into one stacked draft class once the NBA's age limit is lowered an entirely new class will be allowed to enter the draft allowing the Hornets two chances at a number one level player. Although today will always be remembered as a dark day in Charlotte Hornet's history, the future is not bleak in the Queen City. ]]>Sun, 30 Jun 2019 04:16:14 +0000f56de5ef149cf0aedcc8f4797031e229For the Hornets the Quest for the Playoffs Cont...http://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/previews/for-the-hornets-the-quest-for-the-playoffs-cont-r1397
If you were reading the rumor mill up until last Thursday' s three pm deadline you would've been expecting a big move from Charlotte, the team had been mentioned in deals for Bradley Beal, Kevin Love, Harrison Barnes, Jrue Holiday, Marc Gasol and several other big named NBA talent. But in typical Hornets fashion, the team ended up with nothing instead of something, we're yet to see what GM Mitch Kupchak's master plan is but it surely has two things at the top of the list the first being resign Kemba and the second finding Kemba a co-star.

Currently, the Hornets sit at 27 and 28, 7th in the increasingly top-heavy east. They're two games behind the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets and two games ahead of the eighth-seeded Detroit Pistons. With the league's third-hardest schedule the rest of the season the Hornets will be fighting an uphill battle to gain on the Brooklyn Nets and to not lose ground to a surging Pistons team.

The Hornets will be relying heavily on two things if they want to be able to make some noise the rest of this season. The first will be the longtime team captain and NBA All-Star Kemba Walker, Walker is, of course, fantastic but he is what gives this painfully average Charlotte team a chance against some of the East's top tier teams when Kemba struggles the Hornets don't win but when Kemba is playing out of his mind the Hornets have a chance against any team.

The second thing is Malik Monk, all season Malik Monk has been a wild card for the Hornets. Some games Malik Monk will lead Charlotte in scoring and absolutely take over a game with his scoring ability, however, many games he will miss shot after shot and give up easy points on the other end. Which Malik Monk the Hornets get will have a big effect on whether or not this team finds itself as the sixth seed or the ninth seed outside looking in.

For Charlotte, this season could have multiple endings all of them are ones that the Hornets faithful are very familiar with, the Hornets will either be getting embarrassed by a top-seeded team or sitting at sixty-six wins wondering how this cap filled team can somehow improve. If they want to make some noise however and possibly challenge one of the East's best the Hornets will need to get consistency from Kemba along with praying that Malik Monk can become the scorer many believe he was destined to be. ]]>Tue, 12 Feb 2019 01:58:56 +000089c0a463cc070b6c547ce09aa59abd5fHornets Mail Baghttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/featured/hornets-mail-bag-r1396
Enough about me. Let’s answer some questions, with credit given to the ones asking the questions.

Who is not on the team in late February between lamb, mkg, marv, willy, frank? Which was asked by the irascible Chef. Long time fan of Chef, the avatar is tops. Get yer poppin kern here! 3D! Muppets Take Manhattan is in my top 5 of all time movies. Wedding time I kept singing to myself “Somebody’s getting married.” Ok, to answer your question, I’d say it all depends on where the Hornets are in the standings. If they’re low, they’re trading Lamb to see what they can get and then throw in Willy or Frank or something, prospects, picks. Marvin makes too much money to trade. I don’t think anyone would want Marvin Williams for anything the Hornets want. If Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has some offensive awakening, the Hornets fall in love with him and he’s solidly a Hornet for a while, gets injured in the next season and basically is a shell of himself for the duration of his contract. I think the most tradable player is Lamb but I don’t know what for or how to make it work. I don’t think I mentioned Frank Kaminsky in the above response. I forget Frank, as should most people. I’m trolling because I do believe him to be a troll himself and would love to be invited on his misogynist podcast. No, seriously Frank is ok with me. I don’t mind his game. I loved his acting in the McAlister’s commercial.

Chef, please let me know if I answered your question.

Tips for a aspiring writer? From GeraldWallaceMVP. I really miss Gerald Wallace. I wonder what his house looks like in Alabama. It’s probably really big but the grass looks like hell and there are toys and stuff everywhere. I don’t know tips other than just to write. You sit down and type and put stuff out and see what you re-read and you think “Man, that sounds legit.” Enjoy the act of writing because you have thoughts you have to get out and not because you need an audience. I did have some more tips besides just write. Surprise yourself sometimes! My biggest pet peeve is a “writer” who takes it too seriously but then puts something out with grammatical errors and misspellings or poor word usage. Like anything, take pride in what you’re doing. Again, don’t look for an audience, they’re not there. I write to get some thoughts out and if someone reads it, that’s awesome.

Holler if you ever have anything you want to bounce off me, not that I’m great or anything but it’s fun to talk if you’re worried about putting something out there.

Who do you think the starting line up will be and reason why? That’s from dav7z, who has been around forever and I really am honored to answer your question. I don’t freakin’ know.

Alright, send in your questions in the comments or email or twitter. therobertogato@gmail.com@BigCatBobcat on Twitter.

Totally kidding, I will give this my best shot. The givens are Kemba Walker and Nic Batum. Beyond that, it will flesh itself out in the preseason. I am really looking forward to seeing how new coach James Borrego handles pretty much the same roster that Clifford had. Batum might not be a given. I don’t even know his natural position at this point. I’d say Marvin Williams could be penciled in at power forward. It all really depends on what a first year coach wants for his style and line up. So many unknowns. My lineup would be Kemba, Monk,Batum, Marvin Williams and Zeller. I’d use Monk/Batum/MKG interchangeably. Lamb could get 6th man of the year, if the Hornets finish 2nd or 3rd in the East, which they won’t. Bridges and Bacon should get some burn but honestly, I really want to see who has the best chemistry with Kemba. I have this mental image of Kemba dragging all of these guys and that’s where the team goes and how the lineups will be determined.

Reality and basketball will determine the lineups. James Borrego will set them and I don’t know what his philosophy is. I need to do some research.

Those are the 3 questions I got. I’d love to answer more. You guys are the best.]]>Sat, 08 Sep 2018 10:28:40 +000043cf10a7ba626e330e4bacef823450a9Jeopardy, the Magnificent!http://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/headline/jeopardy-the-magnificent-r1395
Did you know there is only one major newspaper in Charlotte? There is only, and forever has only been, one writer that covers the NBA for that paper. He, like me, in this offseason is searching for things to write. He gets more questions on twitter than probably anyone else in the Hornets world. He takes those questions and makes a weekly column. I’m stealing his questions. So if he can co-op the fanbase and not give direct credit to anyone, I can take the questions that “fans” are asking and answer them here.

I don’t want to answer the questions as he was posed them by nameless faceless “fans.” I am going to do this Jeopardy! Style where I put in the answer and say “What is…” If you’re older than maybe 30, you may have heard of Johnny Carson. He had a Carnac sketch where he held an envelope up to his head and said the answer and then opened the sealed envelope to the questions. That’s what I’ll do. We’ll call it “Jeopardy, the Magnificent!”

Answer: That’s not a realistic option. Because the Hornets’ player payroll is far above the salary cap for the 2018-19 season, the rules don’t provide the Hornets a way to offer Walker an extension that would be comparable to what he can get as a free agent next summer.

Question: Can the Hornets possibly sign JJ from What’s Happening this off season, despite his advanced age and every time he shoots he says “DY-NO-MITE!” (That’s the first Walker that came to mind)

What our intrepid writer at the local paper really wanted to say: Stop asking me this. Stop sending this question. Kemba is paid far less than he’s worth and to extend him you have to try and match his price up to what he’s getting now. It’s unpossible. Don’t ask me again. I don’t have time for this.

Answer: It would be a pleasant surprise if Parker, 17 seasons into his NBA career, does all the things on the court that Lin did for the Hornets in the 2015-16 season. Borrego might play Walker and Parker together some in fourth-quarter situations when it becomes particularly difficult to score, but I don’t anticipate Parker (or Monk, for that matter) having the physical strength Lin had to match up against bigger guards.

Question: Jeremy Lin, Tony Parker? What’s the differnt? FFFFFReal? Like, bad season and injury but they like ummm come a Charlotte and have awesome season right? Like palay offssss!

What he really wanted to say: Don’t you idiots realize how old Tony Parker is? Jeremy Lin? Lin, Monk, Parker, if I was the coach (which I probably should be) I’d play all of them at the same time and confuse the shit out of whoever the Hornets are playing. Plus Kemba he plays 48 minutes per game, so they all play at the same time, Borrego are you listening? Then the Hornets have every type of point guard and no one can guard them, they can kinda guard whoever but seriously, how dumb are you fans?

Answer: Probably Bridges, if just because he was the 12th overall pick, but that doesn’t mean Bacon is an afterthought. However, don’t forget about Jeremy Lamb, who is coming off his best NBA season and in a contract year.The Hornets have a crowd at the wing positions and the minutes distribution is very much up for grabs. Barring a trade, someone good enough to be in an NBA rotation won’t play every game.Question: What would you use to get over a body of water? (Go back and read it, I’m very proud of that one)

What I think is the answer to the actual question: Whoever is playing better. With a rookie you have no idea what you’re actually going to get. With a second round pick that played about 13 minutes per game and scored about 3 points per game, you have no idea if that was a fluke or what. You also don’t know how the rookie coach wants to set lineups over the entire season. So, yeah, Bridges, Bacon, Lamb all good options, none jumping off the page right now as taking the share of minutes.

Answer: It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the opening-night starter, but I doubt he will be as featured by Borrego as he was by Clifford. Despite his offensive limitations, Kidd-Gilchrist is still this team’s best perimeter defender. It would be foolish for Borrego not to utilize that when a LeBron James or Russell Westbrook or Kyrie Irving is the opponent’s featured player. But Kidd-Gilchrist has started all but four of his previous 357 NBA games, and I suspect that pattern will change.

Question: What would surprise you and do you have any doubts about MKG being featured? Also, do you answer questions directly or just say what wouldn’t happen or just do process of elimination?Send your questions for an actual mailbag where I’d say who the question is from to therobertogato@gmail.com or post them in the comments. I’ll actually answer them without sarcasm and very little condescension. ]]>Sat, 28 Jul 2018 13:43:27 +0000d974ad2631a2a6977d640ba9d4c98bddWhat Does Summer League Say About Your Hornetshttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/headline/what-does-summer-league-say-about-your-hornets-r1394
Do you even watch the Summer League? I don’t ever want to downplay anything the league does, honestly I don’t. The NBA is a year round phenomenon. The NFL tries to be but there is no competition outside of the August to February pre- regular and post- season schedules. I don’t even know about hockey and baseball stops in November and picks up again in like April. The NBA, didn’t the Warriors just beat whichever team Lebron played for in the East last weekend?

The Hornets were second favorite to win the summer league acording to some Vegas odds I saw on Twitter. That seems strong to me. It says something about a young core. I guess it does anyway.

I didn’t watch a single second of the Summer League. I saw a highlight. One, single, highlight.

Yeah that was badass. He tried some off the backboard stuff but that dunk was strong. I think I’m gonna like this kid Bridges.

The Summer League as a whole, is purported to be a huge waste of money. Like a luxury for people who already live luxuriously. Well maybe not a huge waste, but one of those business trips that you wish you could go on when you’re part of the support staff. It’s big business, and a cost of doing business to see what you have, coaches, players, prospects.

The Hornets lost to open the tournament play, so they are done. There were a couple injuries to report which I don’t like but there are dumber injuries to be found out there. Malik Monk supposedly broke his thumb but then it wasn’t a break. Devonte Graham has a lesion on his something something in his knee. So, for those reasons I don’t like the Summer League.

Another reason I don’t like summer league: you don’t get to see the players you want to see. An all world player is not going to run up and down and bang with some dude trying to make a G-League squad. It reminds me of the NC Pro-Am that I went to a couple summers back in Durham. I was all excited because John Wall, Raymond Felton and some other players with NC ties would show up from time to time but on a random Tuesday night? The Plumlees were the star attractions. We’re talking midsummer Duke years Plumlees but the most I remember was one or two of them playing in a wheelchair basketball scrimmage.

I’m not complaining about anything the league or the Hornets want to do. Please, showcase basketball year round and have Lebon show up in his ugly ass Lakers shorts to get people all juiced up. Bring about 40-60 people out to Vegas and show them a good time. Nothing makes a team come together better than $200 steaks and staying in a nice hotel. I just don’t want to watch it and I don’t want first rounders getting injured.]]>Mon, 16 Jul 2018 23:33:15 +000086fe37cd03aa605545a7854608e98c35Dwight to Biyombo with a Side of Parkerhttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/players/bismack-biyombo/dwight-to-biyombo-with-a-side-of-parker-r1393
The NBA league year thing is really bizarre to me. The free agency blitz that took place at midnight July 1 is some peculiar timing issue to prevent tampering or something but how could a guy sign at midnight on the button if he hasn’t talked to whatever team he’s signing with? So, remember back at the draft, which is in the end of the NBA year and picks can’t change hands until after the league year, but you’re making picks for the team you’re trading with? Weird.

We all have A.D.D. when it comes to news cycles. Right now, my brain is all NASCAR and a little World Cup. I thought the draft then free agency, I could turn my Hornets brain off. Not so fast my friends. I was at my brother in law’s birthday party yesterday and the evening news came on while we were eating and it showed Malik Monk reacting strangely when he found out, mid-interview that the Hornets had signed Tony Parker.

Do you go to family events, look at your phone maybe once and either your parents or your significant other, my fiancee screams at me “Put your damn phone away!” Ever happen to you? I love it. Like I’m a grown up. I can look at my phone it doesn’t mean I love you less. I’m a bit defensive and I’m sorry. Still, I have an app that alerts me when the Hornets make news. Tony Parker, like that was weird and I’m telling my brother in law about it, the trade news hits and my sister shouts “MMMBop Bah-Bango is back?!”

Bismack Biyombo was drafted by the Bobcats in 2011, at pick #7. 2 ahead of franchise player Kemba Walker. Great promise and some time, the Hornets let him walk at the end of his rookie deal. Orlando gave Biyombo a pretty hefty contract but as a new era begins in Orlando and Charlotte, the Magic drafted Mo Bamba and the Hornets moved Dwight Howard. It’s just strange coincidences now.

Dwight Howard was a locker room cancer, yeah he rebounded like a man on a mission and averaged a double double, only sitting one game all season. I thought trading him out of town was a good idea but bringing back Mosgov? Timofey was one of new GM Mitch Kupchak’s big mistakes in that summer where I think I got signed to a minimum deal in LA. So doubling down on a mistake on your new team? C’mon. Dwight’s whole thing of getting bought out in Brooklyn and going to Washington, that’s his issue.

The need for a veteran point guard or some size to back up Kemba now that he’s probably not going to be traded, became the priority. Everyone thought Tyreke Evans was headed here, or at least it was an option based on his brother saying something on a radio show in Memphis? Who knows. I didn’t see Tony Parker coming, at all. Tony Parker is a lifer in San Antionio, I guess folks thought he’d go the way of Tim Duncan and the way Manu Ginobili is going. I don’t know how much tread is left on those Michellins (those are French tires, get it?).

This Biyombo trade is blowing my mind. Mosgov and Jerian Grant to Orlando, Biyombo to Charlotte, Julyan Stone to Chicago. I have no idea what anyone gets out of any of these guys. Chicago is making money moves. Mosgov is probably going to help Mo Bamba more than Biyombo would. Biyombo is going to block some shots and pull down rebounds in place of Dwight Howard. But none of these guys is going to change the trajectory of any of these teams.

You have to look at the situation as a whole. Roster last year vs. roster this year. I think the sum total, the Hornets got younger, kinda, Parker definitely doesn’t help. OK, they got more French. I thought of the Dwight trade as addition by subtraction any way. I don’t know how much upside Biyombo really has.

Freeing up time, space, drama makes room for Cody Zeller, Frank Kaminski, Biz and whoever else wants to step into the Dwight void. Some day, I’d love a 30 for 30 on Dwight’s single year in Charlotte. I think there was such a change that pivoted on last season. The roster isn’t being overhauled as much as tweaked. But the vibe is so different.]]>Sun, 08 Jul 2018 20:30:15 +00006e0cf80a83327822a972bcde3c1d9740How Much Stock To Put In Draft Gradeshttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/nba-draft/how-much-stock-to-put-in-draft-grades-r1392

My first two posts back at HornetsPlanet have been Draft Grades for the 2018 NBA Draft and my opinion on Kemba Walker’s trade possibilities. The one big thing I agree with Tom Sorensen on in his column is that Kemba Walker is the one player the Hornets drafted right since the Bobcats days. If you go back, way back, there are some seriously good picks way back that, of course, this being Charlotte, didn’t have their greatest years in a Hornets uniform. If you think of Rex Chapman, you might think of him in a Suns uniform. Think of Larry Johnson, you picture him as Madea before Madea. Alonzo Mourning is a Miami Heat...He’s Heat….that’s a poor name for a team. Baron Davis, he’s the Warrior you know between Chris Mullens and Stephen Jackson. Kemba Walker is the best player the Hornets in their current iteration have drafted. Without question.

I wondered, based on the draft picks that the Hornets made last week, if the draft grades mean anything. If you have these two things as absolutes: Kemba is the best player the Hornets have picked and there are websites that give grades every year to draft picks, you can be sure I want to measure one against the other.

What was the draft in 2011 graded and as somewhat of a control, Kyrie Irving who has a damn movie coming out this week, was the #1 pick and we shall see what the grades are for him as well.

Site

Hornets' Grade

Number Grade

Cavs' Grade

Cavs Number Grade

NBADraft.net

C-

72

B-

82

BleacherReport

B+/C

79

B/D-

74

SI.com

B-

82

B-

82

HoopsHabit

B+

87

A-

92

FoxSports

C-

72

B-

82

While he’ll probably never be an All-Star guard,

SBNation

B+

87

B

85

NBCSports

B

85

B

85

(Yes, We Know It's Way Too Early)

80.5

83.1

Basically, no one liked Tristan Thompson at the time, they thought Kyrie would be good but weren’t sure and gave the Cavs a B-. The Bobcats at the time averaged out to a B-/C+, right on the line. So, if I told you your team has Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo, now, I would probably give that team a B+. Tristan Thompson and Kyrie Irving? I’m giving you a solid A. Tristan is a starting center. Kyrie is Uncle Drew. In theaters now!

Kemba Walker at #9? That’s incredible value to me. I think Kyrie is far and away the best player from that draft. So, yes taking him #1 is excellent value. Both of those A+? Probably right.

We know these grades are just for fun and I’m not trying to be old takes exposed or anything but I do love that whoever FoxSports was paying at the time to actually write said that Kemba would never be an all-star. He’s been an All-Star twice. BleacherReport said Kemba was an undersized shooting guard, not a PG. Our PG has been up for handle of the year and is one of the best pure point guards in the league. They also hated Kyrie to Cleveland, thought Derrick Williams was certainly better.

Sam Amick is one of my favorites, he said that moving Stephen Jackson for Maggette and moving up to #7 wouldn’t have been any better than staying at #9 and #19 and keeping Jackson. He is the lone A for Cleveland.

I don’t think anyone really knows in the NBA draft. When you consider that the last guy selected was traded for the first guy picked in that year, and no one really blinked, 6 years after the draft where Isiah Thomas had 59 guys better than him, that says that no one really knows what a 19 year old will give a team in 3-4 years. The chances and the hope and expectations are what you put into these players.

The grades don’t matter and the picks almost don’t matter. Fit and potential. Who knows from year to year what will pay off?

]]>Wed, 04 Jul 2018 19:28:48 +00002b6bb5354a56ce256116b6b307a1ea10Kemba Walker is the franchise player for the Ch...http://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/players/kemba-walker-players/kemba-walker-is-the-franchise-player-for-the-ch-r1391
Kemba Walker is the franchise player for the Charlotte Hornets. He just is. He’s not marketable in the way Larry Johnson or Baron Davis was. I see so many Panthers players on local car dealership ads, Cam Newton was on some yogurt ads nationally, Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis are all over CPI. Hornets players, currently, not so much. Kemba appeared in the background of the HBO show Ballers. Don’t blink, you’ll miss it. He’s a two time NBA All-Star.

I love Kemba Walker. I’ll go to bat for that dude. I hate, hate to see him involved in trade talks. Especially with Cleveland.

Longtime, now retired columnist with the Charlotte Observer, Tom Sorensen made the case that now is the time to trade Kemba. He called him the “blue light special,” which for you younger readers is an allusion to KMart (the store not Kenyon Martin). KMart would have a cart or a table with a blue light above it and they’d make an announcement “Attention KMart Shoppers! There is a Blue Light Special on Charmin!” People would flock to this blue light. Now I think of blue light special as getting pulled over. You see those blue lights, you want to puke. Kemba is no blue light special, in either respect.

Be assured, I don’t agree with a lot that’s in that article, especially the premise. Kemba’s value at this point, as a chip to bargain with and what you get in return, plus the years you can offer, the money his team at the end of his contract can throw at him, is very advantageous for his team. The Hornets are that team. Why can’t all those advantages be the property of Charlotte, along with keeping the good will of holding onto the franchise’s best player?

There are no legit rumors because I don’t think The Hornets are shopping Kemba. I think they’re 100% honest when they say that they will listen but they see Kemba Walker finishing his career in Charlotte. That’s according to Rick Bonnell of the Observer from Mitch Kupchak’s presser introducing this year’s rookies. It will be extremely difficult to extend Kemba’s contract before he’s a free agent because of the tightness to the cap. Michael Jordan will not pay the luxury tax to finish 7th in the East. I wouldn’t either. The CBA and the salary cap are what they are. Rich Cho and even Rod Higgins have made the bed in which the Hornets now lie. It’s not Kemba Walker’s fault that the new TV money makes him the 6th Highest paid player on the team.

In last year’s All Star Game, where Kemba was the last man in as an injury replacement, Kemba was the 4th up from the bottom. Porzingis (based on rookie scale), Embid (based on rookie scale(he gets $25 million next season)), Karl Anthony-Towns (rookie scale) then Kemba. The next on the list is Draymond Green who makes $3 million more per year than Kemba. Underestimates and a slow build to the player that he is has made Kemba Walker probably the best deal in the NBA not on a rookie contract. Why trade that away? Why lose all the cards for what? A rebuild? A younger player on a slow build?

There are very few known things, and even fewer sure things. Kemba Walker, for Charlotte, has become very close to a known entity. The theory that he is a bargaining chip, and a great one, totally flies in the face of what an NBA team should be trying to do. Super teams, Lebron, MVP runs with a cast of characters who do one or two things extremely well, these are the things running the NBA now. The Hornets don’t have that, any of that. Everyone wants to be the Sixers but what have they done? How hard is that to actually pull off? Unbelievable luck. Boston? They have had amazing transformations somehow, KG and Pierce begat the picks that became Smart and Tatum and Mr Irrelevant 2011 begat Kyrie and thus Gordon Hayward. How? Who knows? Danny Ainge made a deal with the devil?

So, with what the Hornets currently have, can they make a huge run at a top pick? Can they make a run at a transformational talent that’s a free agent? Can they make a Godfather offer for picks/players/slow builds? I don’t care, because if it takes trading away Kemba Walker, I am not going to accept it.]]>Sat, 30 Jun 2018 23:20:30 +0000ff4dfdf5904e920ce52b48c1cef97829Charlotte Hornets Draft Grade 2018http://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/nba-draft/charlotte-hornets-draft-grade-2018-r1390
So the Hornets had another draft pick. It’s a yearly passage. Whether they will use them, whether those they use them on will play, if they will be 7’ and white. All questions that are answered yearly.

Charlotte picked last week. The 2018 Draft came, I didn’t watch, they traded like a million things. I feel like there are 200 second round picks coming back. Finally, I figured out that they actually took 3 players in this year’s draft: Miles Bridges, a Forward from Michigan State; Devonte Graham, a guard from Kansas; Arnoldas Kulboka, a Lithuanian from Lithuania. I don’t know anything about any of those players. I don’t watch college ball. I don’t watch Lithuanian ball, despite my deep fascination with the entire Ball Family. I think the Hornets should have taken Liangelo Ball rather than Arnoldas Kulboka.

Since I don’t know anything about these picks, I have scoured the internet and looked at what experts have graded these picks. Some, most actually, just grade the first round. Without further ado, the Charlotte Hornets Draft Grades for 2018:

CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone says it’s a straight up B for the entire 3 pick haul. He likes the Bridges pick thinking he’d be a higher pick last year and that Graham could be Kemba Walker’s backup. Well, OK, thanks for the ol’ “It’s fine, just fine,” grade Kyle!

Nbadraft.net (which still looks like a GeoCities site) had David Ray do the grades, he says “C.” “Moving in the right direction,” is how he left things. He likes Miles Bridges, he said Kemba is as good as gone and Devonte Graham is going to start in his place at PG. If I got an NBA level starting PG that could replace a 2 time all-star in the second round, I’d probably go with something a bit better than middle of the road but who am I to judge a grade?

My good friend Jordan Schultz of Yahoo! (do we still use the !?) (BTW did you know his Dad is the founder and former CEO of Starbucks? Now I know how he scoops the Seahawks stuff) He just gave grades on the first round and he puts it in the context of trading away the “PG of the future”? In Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? I disagree mostly because I don’t believe Kemba is going anywhere. Anyway, he says B+ for Bridges in the first round. Super athlete that can do things a forward should do starting at day 1.

The Sporting News’ Chris Stone gave the Bridges pick an A. He said that Miles was their 7th ranked player and the Hornets got him at 12 so that was a good pick. Value. Hmm. That’s like buying a Kia instead of a Mercedes. Yeah, it’s nice but why didn’t your uncle who has a beach house also buy a Kia?

The Ringer, not the 2005 Johnny Knoxville Special Olympics vehicle, the Bill Simmons naval gazing pile, gives the Hornets an A. Jonathan Tjarks says something about Dwight leaving and Kemba on his way out of town and Bridges is a key piece in a rebuild. I don’t necessarily agree with that premise but I’m glad he’s a good player in the Ringer’s eyes.

Jeremy Woo at Sports Illustrated says B-. He liked the pick of Shai the pick before and thought the fit with Monk was better. He lamented the trade a bit because SGA in his mind has more upside. I don’t know who this Malik Monk character is he refers to. I’d like to know more. I’ll email Steve Clifford and see if he knows. He doesn’t really mention Bridges himself. Click the link, you might have different takeaways.

So, the overall draft would average a B-. The First round pick of Miles Bridges averages out to a B+. I don’t know because right now, he doesn’t project as a transformational talent out of the blocks. Therefore, if he doesn’t move the needle by himself, it’s all about fit. I think new coach James Borrego would make more use out of a rookie player than Steve Clifford.

Hornets fans can look forward to a new and revitalized, ehh who am I kidding. The rotations, the coaching, the players all remain to be seen. I’m not sold but I’m not selling either. ]]>Tue, 26 Jun 2018 01:13:38 +00000c0bf917c7942b5a08df71f9da626f97Adam Morrison Comic HashtagSixhttp://hornetsplanet.com/page/articles.html/_/players/adam-morrison/adam-morrison-comic-hashtagsix-r1389
Back in December I dropped dime of the comic and to my surprise and heartbreak, no one cared. At first I was upset because I thought a new AMC would excite the basketball internet world but it did the exact opposite. Only a handful of people remembered the previous issues and were slightly happy to learn of the new comic. Sadness quickly turned to understanding. I understood that life had moved on over the last 7 years and my comics had become "Old News".

As I realized this I could not help but feel a sense of excitement. I wasn't mad or sad about being forgotten. I was even happier than if everyone remembered the first five issues and had been sitting around waiting for the next one. I thought back to the release of the very first issue. Everyone was so accepting of this new form of art and story telling and the comic was a great escape from the ups and downs of the NBA season. There was no pressure from me to deliver with a comic because no one was expecting it. With that knowledge I knew that I could have the same affect with the 6th issue and open doors for a new audience. Now fans of the previous work and new fans could read this comic and really enjoy it on a grander scale.

I know this might make me come off as conceited but I hope this comic elicits a response out of you. From my perspective I'm burning with excitement because I've spent that last 10 months working on this massive project and I know it's going to be good and I know a huge amount of people are going to enjoy this comic more so than any of the comics that precede it and I'm sitting on gold and I cannot wait to share it with you all.

To clarify Yes! I said I've spent the last 10 months working on this comic. The magnitude of this story required the time and patience unlike the previous 5 issues did before it. I quadrupled the page amount multiplied the picture amount by 11 making this the longest comic of the entire series and makes the others look more like comic strips to this Bible sized Novel. This is also the first comic to be made entirely in Adobe Photoshop so visually is the best looking of the series.

In closing I truly hope that everyone enjoys this comic. Obviously this is wishful thinking but if am for 100% satisfaction and come up short then I'm looking at a percentage somewhere in the 90's. Hornets Planet has always been highly supportive of my work and Comics so I thank them for allowing this post to be posted and I want everyone who's ever enjoyed these comics to take this one to heart because I've always made these things to entertain people and if the fans of the original work enjoy them I hope it's a little more than everyone else because I hold you in a special place for the years of support, praise, and And1's.